USC spent the first three weeks at the top of our power rankings before crashing against Stanford at the Coliseum. UCLA took the Trojans place at No. 1 as a result, then it similarly tumbled at home last Saturday to Arizona State. How long will the next top team stick? Who is our top team?

Let’s not belabor. Here is the latest batch of rankings, as voted on by yours truly, USC beat reporter Michael Lev and the Register’s colleges editor, Todd Bailey.

1. UTAH (4-0, 1-0 PAC-12; PREVIOUS RANK: 2)

This is an easy call at this point. The Utes are one of just two undefeated teams left in the conference and boast the best win on anyone’s résumé, a 62-20 smattering of Oregon in Autzen Stadium. Not to mention they also beat Michigan, putting up 24 points, a particularly impressive feat considering the Wolverines’ defense has allowed a total of 14 points in the four games since then, including back-to-back shutouts of BYU and Maryland. If there’s any trepidation, much of it centers on quarterback Travis Wilson. The upcoming three-game stretch is formidable, too, with Utah playing host to Cal and Arizona State before traveling to USC.

2. Stanford (4-1, 3-0; PREV. RANK: 3)

I liked what David Shaw said a couple weeks ago after the win at USC: “The difference between football coaches and the rest of the sane world is we understand sometimes you don’t play well. Outside of the coach world, people look for something to blame. It’s got to be playcalling or personnel. Sometimes you just don’t play well. We didn’t play well the first week, for whatever reason.” That’s perhaps a good way to wrap your brain around Stanford dropping its season opener to Northwestern and not scoring a touchdown. (Or the Wildcats really are the No. 13 team in the country with the nation’s top scoring defense, right, Lev?) If last week’s 55-17 rout of Arizona was an indication, Shaw’s team appears right on track.

3. USC (4-1, 2-1; PREV. RANK: 4)

Maybe it’s because my ears are kept closer to the ground in Westwood, but to me, Steve Sarkisian’s matchup against his old Washington team isn’t quite generating the noise I might have expected back in the preseason, especially amid the whole Salute to Troy fiasco. For Sarkisian, that’s probably just fine. USC, which is still technically in the running for the College Football Playoff, needs to take care of business here before the road gets particularly tough. A trip to South Bend to face Notre Dame comes next before Pac-12 dates with Utah and Cal. If the Trojans, who are 17-point favorites over the Huskies, somehow stumble, Sarkisian really will start hearing some noise again.

4. UCLA (4-1, 1-1; PREV. RANK: 1)

Well it happened again. UCLA looked poised to climb in the top-10, perhaps all the way up to No. 4, which would have tied its highest AP poll ranking in the past 20 years, but was instead tripped up at home to Arizona State. This is the third time under Jim Mora that the Bruins have lost a game the first weekend of October to an unranked foe. They are also considered to be in the playoff hunt, not just in the running for the South Division title, and the margin for error becomes razor thin as it is for their crosstown rivals. Can they withstand the injuries? The bye week should help. But Stanford awaits on Oct. 15. The Cardinal has defeated the Bruins four times in Mora’s first three seasons and every time since 2008.

5. Cal (5-0, 2-0; PREV. RANK: 6)

We are approaching a development that we haven’t seen in more than half a century. If Cal can beat Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday night, it will be the last remaining undefeated team in the conference for the first time since 1950. That was the first year of the Korean War, by the way. Harry Truman was the President. It helps to have a generational talent behind center in Jared Goff, already the school’s all-time leading passer. He’s thrown for 1,630 yards this season, leading the nation’s No. 13 scoring offense and a group that’s also No. 15 nationally in yards per game.

T6. Arizona State (3-2, 1-1; PREV. RANK: 8)

Todd Graham’s best team ever had its best game of the season against maybe the best team it’s played all season last Saturday in Pasadena. Nobody had slowed down Paul Perkins entering the game until the Sun Devils held him to 63 yards rushing and 3.5 yards per carry, his lowest mark since his freshman season in 2013. Arizona State was embarrassed by USC on Sept. 26, but much like last season when it was routed in week four by UCLA in its home stadium, it could certainly rebound and make noise in the South. A nine-game conference schedule certainly allows for the Sun Devils to get back in it. The fact they don’t play Stanford is also notable.

T6. Oregon (3-2, 1-1; PREV. RANK: 5)

The obituaries may have begun after the Ducks’ 42-point home loss to Utah, but they responded nicely with a win at Colorado. They ain’t dead yet. There are, of course, still question marks at quarterback and on defense. Vernon Adams was out against the Buffaloes with his broken right hand and so Jeff Lockie started behind center. The secondary is still pretty young. But the running game looked as explosive as ever, Taj Griffin may turn out to be quite the compliment to Royce Freeman. Griffin added 110 yards on the ground, while Freeman rushed for 163. There’s still time to figure things out.

8. Colorado (3-2, 0-1; PREV. RANK: 10)

So let’s acknowledge the Buffaloes are a better bunch this fall, especially compared to a year ago when they went 2-10. And though they lost to Oregon at home last week, they were competitive, playing the Ducks to a 17-17 tie at halftime. They’re averaging more points, clocking 33.4 points per game, up from 28.4 from 2014. But how realistic is getting to a bowl game? Because they play a 13-game schedule (due to the extra Hawaii game), they’ll need to finish 7-6 and go 5-3 the rest of the way. Among those eight remaining games are five teams who won at least nine games in 2014, along with Stanford. Good luck.

9. Arizona (3-2, 0-2; PREV. RANK: 7)

Oh boy. Things have taken a turn for the worse in Tucson. Just two weeks ago, Arizona was ranked No. 16 and preparing to host ESPN’s College GameDay. Since then, the Wildcats welcomed back star linebacker Scooby Wright from a torn meniscus only to lose him a foot injury. Quarterback Anu Solomon suffered a concussion against UCLA and was out the next week at Stanford. They also dropped their first two games of the season to the Bruins and the Cardinal by a combined margin of 111-47. They won the South last season with two conference losses, but it may be a bit asking much to repeat as division champs. It does help the next four games come against Oregon State, Colorado, Washington State and Washington.

10. Washington (2-2, 0-1; PREV. RANK: 10)

I know the W-L results may not be coming in as quickly as some fans probably wanted, but I think Chris Petersen has done a nice coaching job up in Seattle in just his second year there. The team is full of underclassmen (80-plus freshmen/sophomores), and they’re still getting some results. Quarterback Jake Browning, a true freshman, has a 142.51 quarterback rating that is in the upper half among the Pac-12 passers and he’s beating out the more heralded Josh Rosen in this category. The defense has steadied despite losing three NFL first-round draft picks. The Huskies are allowing just 4.3 yards per play, tops in the conference. There are certainly signs of life.

11. Washington State (2-2, 0-1; PREV. RANK: 11)

I’m convinced that at some point, the Mike Leach-led Cougars are going to ruin someone’s season in a 52-49 shootout. It almost came against upstart Cal last Saturday, as Washington State went up 21-7 late in the second quarter and was still ahead, 28-20, late in the third. But Leach faces the same issue that Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre squares off with in that it will be tough to become bowl eligible. The Cougars might be competitive and knock off a couple teams, but are there enough winnable games left on the schedule? They face Oregon on Saturday and then four more teams that went to bowl games in 2014, with all four (Arizona, Stanford, Arizona State and UCLA) coming in a row in late October/early November.

12. Oregon State (2-2, 0-1; PREV. RANK: 12)

It’s difficult to find a lot of encouraging signs for the Beavers other than their talented dual-threat freshman quarterback Seth Collins, who has rushed for 306 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for 581 yards with a 5:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Not that this isn’t a glimmer of hope. There just doesn’t look to be much else there. The defense ranks near the bottom in most defensive categories. It seems that Mike Riley picked a good time to jump ship to Nebraska, though he hasn’t exactly gotten off to a blazing start there.

Joey Kaufman is the USC beat writer for the Southern California News Group. Since joining the Orange County Register in 2015, he has also covered Major League Baseball and UCLA athletics. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors and Football Writers Association of America. Kaufman grew up in beautiful downtown Burbank.

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